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Chomper
'''Chomper' (a.k.a. "Eager Chomper", as he is called on the official website, and by fansFans compare The Land Before Time's core characters with the Toronto Raptors hroman.wordpress.com Retrieved on March 19th, 2008.), originally voiced by Rob Paulsen, later Cannon Young, and now Max Burkholder, is a character in the The Land Before Time films and TV series. He is a Tyrannosaurus,[http://www.landbeforetime.co.nr/ Official website for The Land Before Time films and television series.] Retrieved on November 3rd, 2008. which is one of many species of carnivorous dinosaurs called "sharpteeth" in the Land Before Time series. He first appeared in The Land Before Time II: The Great Valley Adventure, when he was hatched by the main characters. Being raised by them for the first day of his life has led him to be friendly with herbivorous dinosaurs, although they do not always trust him. He is bilingual, being able to speak both the herbivore language of the plant-eating dinosaurs (heard as English to the viewer), and the "Sharptooth" language of the carnivorous dinosaurs, which seems to consist of grunts, roars, and clicks. Chomper was so well-received by the fans and critics of the series that he was brought back as a supporting character in The Land Before Time V: The Mysterious Island, and re-introduced as a main character in the television series. It is widely-hoped by the fans that he will be featured again in the fourteenth installment of the film series. Character History Littlefoot, Cera, Ducky, Petrie, and Spike originally found Chomper as an egg in The Land Before Time II: The Great Valley Adventure, when they were trying to rescue an egg from Ducky's nest, which had been stolen by the eggnappers Ozzy & Strut. They mistook the egg to be the egg from the nest, as it was approximately the same (save for the size; Chomper's was larger), being blue with orange speckles. When they brought the egg from the Mysterious Beyond back to the nest, however, they found that Ducky's unhatched sibling had rolled back to the nest, although they mistook it to be a coincidence that they had seen Ozzy and Strut leaving Ducky's nest with the egg, and that the one they had brought back was the one they had really stolen. They decided to take care of the baby as surrogate parents when it hatched, until they found out he was a sharptooth when he did. Littlefoot was the first to realize that as a baby he was not yet dangerous, and could perhaps be steered away from the natural dietary habits of the carnivorous dinosaurs. Although this didn't work, Chomper was content to feed off of insects whenever he could catch them. When Littlefoot introduced Chomper to the others, they accepted him at first, even singing a song for him ("You're One of Us Now"). Cera however, became bitter towards him after he bit her tail by instinct. Chomper then ran away, to one of the volcanoes (called "Smoking Mountains" by the characters) on the edge of the Great Valley. There, he chased more insects until Ozzy and Strut attacked the others again, for revenge. He then came to their rescue, as he had inadvertently done before (his shadow had fooled the eggnappers into thinking he was an adult). Later, when the gang found out that a landslide the night before had opened up a new path between the Beyond and the Valley, enabling Sharpteeth to enter, Littlefoot tried to lead Chomper to safety, but encountered the two Sharpteeth which had come into the Valley. Chomper immediately clicked onto who these particular Sharpteeth were, and vice versa. He and his parents then began to leave, until he heard Littlefoot calling for help as Ozzy and Strut tried to throw him off a cliff, whereupon his grateful mother and father chased them off, and Chomper and Littlefoot said their final goodbyes. Chomper made his second appearance in The Land Before Time V: The Mysterious Island, in which the gang found out that he and his family lived on the island they had found themselves trapped on. Chomper was convinced his parents would be friendly to them, even though the carnivorous food source on the island was limited. However, when he found out, upon asking his parents if he could invite some of his friends over for dinner, that they viewed any guests as dessert, he offered to help the gng hide away from them. He then led them to a batch of foul-smelling roses he referred to as "The Stinky Place", and professed that the smell of the flowers would block their own scent from reaching his parents. He then went off to fetch food for the gang after Spike began to eat the flowers. Throughout that time, Cera maintained a paranoiac distrust of Chomper, and constantly reminded the others that he could turn on them at any moment. When she thought that Chomper was about to bite Littlefoot, she finally blurted out her fears within Chomper's hearing range. Chomper, who knew all along that she didn't trust his parents, was hurt that she was even suspicious of him, and ran away. Later, when another Sharptooth who had also been living on the island found the children, Chomper tried to protect them by battling with the sharptooth himself. Then his parents showed up and took on him, during which he fell into the Big Water and knocked Chomper in with him. Littlefoot then jumped in to save Chomper from drowning, and held him out of the water when the sharks (called "swimming sharpteeth" by the characters) began to approach them. When Elsie, a kind, sea-dwelling Plesiosaur rescued them and returned them to the island, Mama and Papa Sharptooth promised the children that they would not hurt them after all they had done for their son. Cera then realized that it was possible for them to resist their instincts for their friends' sake, and began to trust Chomper more. In the TV series, Chomper has come into the Great Valley again, accompanied by a female Oviraptor named Ruby. Even though he is a sharptooth, the residents have apparently readily accepted the two of them. Other than Topsy, who frequently pokes at Chomper's carnivorous appetite, the adults have no objection to him living in the valley or playing with their children, in spite of his carnivorous nature. This is perhaps because Chomper is still content to feed off of insects. It is unknown how he and his family managed to get off the island he was last seen on, as the land bridge connecting the island to the mainland was destroyed by an earthquake well into the fifth film. Whatever happened, it is revealed that Mama and Papa Sharptooth gave Ruby the responsibility to take care of him. A flashback in The Star Day Celebration reveals that Chomper and Ruby initially went to the Great Valley together when pursued by Red Claw. Many fans of the series hope that the upcoming fourteenth movie will feature Chomper and Ruby, and will explain more of the details behind their eventual arrival in the Great Valley, as other glimpses of what happened have been seen in flashbacks in the series, but not enough has yet been given to complete the picture. Personality Chomper's personality is very outgoing, and he is always willing to go on an adventure with his friends. He tries to please his friends as much as possible, and thus is prone to being taken advantage of. He shows fierce loyalty to his friends, and he often openly exclaims his friendship even to those who intimidate him, like Doc in The Lone Dinosaur Returns, and Thud in Escape from the Mysterious Beyond. He is also quite naive, though not quite to the extent of some of the others, such as Ducky or Petrie, and he easily believes what he is told. An example is in The Mysterious Tooth Crisis, when he believes what Topsy says about him falling apart to bones. He is also known to panic easily, particularly when there is risk of someone seeking to harm him. This is seen in The Lone Dinosaur Returns, in which he tries desperately to stay away from Doc, fearing that he will kill him because he is a sharptooth. He often feels sensitive about his size, as in Escape from the Mysterious Beyond and The Missing Fast-Water Adventure. Despite all this, he has a very kind heart, and is most often seen singing the song Feel So Happy in the television series, reflecting his good nature. Linguistics Chomper is one of only a few bilingual characters in the Land Before Time series, the others being Mo the Opthalmosaurus, Scuttle the Sand Creeper, and presumably Elsie the Elasmosaurus. Chomper is able to speak the dialects of both the herbivorous creatures and the carnivorous creatures. It is uncertain how Chomper learned the herbivore language when he was only around these sorts for a short time during the first day of his life, but he was already able to speak it fluently in his first scene in The Mysterious Island. It was through the character Chomper that it was revealed that the Sharpteeth characters have a dialect of their own. As the language of the herbivores is heard as English or whatever language the DVD is on, to the audience, while the Sharpteeth are only heard uttering roars or grunting and clicking noises, it was uncertain until the fifth film, in which a caption appears at the bottom of the screen, translating what Chomper and his parents say in their language. He is also shown communicating to other Sharpteeth on a few occasions in the TV series, although only the conversation between Chomper and Thud is captioned. However, in the show, most of the plant-eating characters do not seem to believe that Sharpteeth speak, as in the aforementioned film, Littlefoot watches as Chomper converses with Mama and Papa Sharptooth, and he wonders what they're saying. Cera then tells him that they probably cannot talk. In the TV episode "The Brave Longneck Scheme", as the Old One and the rest of Ali's herd crowd around Chomper, he tearfully begs them not to hurt him. The herd is shocked to hear him speak, and the Old One exclaims "A talking Sharptooth? I never heard of such a thing!" Indifference Chomper is the only main character in the television series who is a carnivore, with Ruby being an omnivore, and the rest of the original five being herbivores. Chomper has an excellent sense of smell, as would be expected for a carnivorous creature. Because of his sensitive nose, which he affectionately calls his "sniffer", he is often called upon for tracking lost friends and finding missing items in the TV series. In the episode "The Lonely Journey", he is shown trying to teach Spike to use his nose for the same reason. He is the only Sharptooth who has eaten prey on screen, although the prey are insects, and he is also the only Sharptooth who has directly injured one of the original five main characters; when he bit Cera in his first appearance. However, this was most likely based on natural instincts, as he was a baby in the film, and was remorseful when the others were angry at him for doing it. Since being informed by Littlefoot and Ducky that this behavior was not appropriate, and unacceptable in the Great Valley, he has not been seen doing it again. Chomper often forgets that his friends are leaf-eaters, as a running gag in the TV series shows Chomper trying to offer his friends insects to eat. In Search for the Sky Color Stones, he offers Littlefoot and Petrie a hive of bees (called "stinging buzzers" by the characters), which are his favorite food, and he does not understand why they aren't pleased at this. Chomper apparently feels ill whenever he is around a lot of sweet-smelling vegetation, such as the fruit in the episode The Hidden Canyon. He has tried eating vegetables and plants on several occasions, but continually finds their taste disgusting. Likewise, the other characters are often irritated when watching him eat. In the episode The Big Longneck Test, as Shorty witnesses Chomper feeding on some insects, he comments sharply on it, to which Cera responds "You get used to it." Even though most of the adults are tolerant of Chomper, a few show prejudiced feeling toward him due to his species, with Topsy being a notable example. Although Cera was extremely mistrusting and bigoted towards Chomper in The Mysterious Island for the same reason, and because he had bitten her tail in The Great Valley Adventure, the two of them seem to have made amends with each other since. Cera has also showed concern whenever Chmper is in danger due to the bigotry and assumptions of the adult characters. Chomper is closer to Littlefoot than he is to the other five characters, because Littlefoot was with him the most when he was a baby, and has never faultered in his friendship and trust to Chomper. Their bond is almost brotherly, and they share the same belief that anyone of any species, even those with different dietary habits, can be friends with each other. He even ventured out into the Mysterious Beyond in "The Lonely Journey", in order to teach the Sharpteeth to be friendly, though he did not meet with success. Changes in design and Petrie, shortly after birth.]] The character's form has been slightly modified over time, similarily to the characters Cera and Spike. In his debut, The Land Before Time II: The Great Valley Adventure, he was drawn as a mid-shade of blue, with very soft, rounded facial and bodily features. In The Land Before Time V: The Mysterious Island, he was re-drawn with more square of a shape to his mouth, and noticeable chest muscles. This was perhaps to indicate that he had developed more as he got older. In the television series, he was modified again. Now, the character is a slightly darker blue than he had been in the films, more of a backwards-slant to his eyes, and larger nostrils, giving his jaw a longer appearance. His teeth are also positioned differently. Reception Chomper has been received very well by the critics and reviewers of the series. In his review for The Land Before Time II: The Great Valley Adventure, Steve Rhodes described Chomper as being a "real scene stealer of a character", and the most imaginative part of animation artist Nelson Shin's work for the film.Steve Rhodes review of The Great Valley Adventure on July 25th, 2002: uk.rottentomatoes.com Retrieved on March 21st, 2008. Science Fiction, Horror and Fantasy Film Review Database critic Richard Scheib labelled the character as "cute", and thought that the plotline in The Mysterious Island revolving around the drama brought on by his friendship with the main characters in spite of his dietary designs and the risk that his parent's might not look past their differences as the most interesting parts of the film.Science Fiction, Horror and Fantasy Film Review Database critic Richard Scheib's review of The Mysterious Island www.moria.co.nzRetrieved on March 21st, 2008. Michael Scheinfeld, on Disney Family.com, seemed pleased in his review that the character was brought back for that film.Michael Scheinfeld's review of The Land Before Time movie series, on Disney Family.com (2007) family.go.com Retrieved on April 22nd, 2008. In the book Movie Clips for Kids, a book about using clips from videos to teach children about the Bible, the scene in which Littlefoot risks his own life to save Chomper from drowning was likened to the scenario in which the good Samaritan rescues the Jewish man who had been beaten and robbed. Both sequences feature people helping those in need, whether they be from an enemy camp or not.Movie Clips for Kids: Faith-Building Video Devotions; pages 118-119. By Group Publishing, 2002. ISBN 0764423835/ISBN 9780764423833 Retrieved on November 3rd, 2008. Chomper's popularity among fans of the show has grown increasingly immense, and he has become the central figure in numerous fanfictions.A Land Before Time fanfic titled "The Land Before Time: Sharptooth Valley", on www.fanfiction.net Retrieved on November 2nd, 2008.A Land Before Time fanfic titled "Destiny" on www.fanfiction.net Retrieved on November 2nd, 2008. Trivia *In 1995, Don Glut wrote the book Chomper, a book in a series of Dinotopia junior novels. It concerns an infant Giganotosaurus named Chomper that was separated from its parents and was raised by a human boy. However, it ends with the boy realizing that he can no longer take care of Chomper and returning him to the wilds of the Rainy Basin where other meat eating dinosaurs live. Whether this is just a coincidence or if Glut intentionally copied The Land Before Time II: The Great Valley Adventure--which he has stated that he hates--is unknown. *Chomper and Ruby do not appear in The Land Before Time XIII: The Wisdom of Friends, as the story takes place before the TV series, though it was issued after the series premiered. *In the video game The Land Before Time: Into the Mysterious Beyond, the original five main characters must look for Chomper. References External Links *Chomper at the Internet Movie Database. Category:Main Characters Category:Twofooters Category:Sharpteeth Category:Land Before Time characters Category:Good Articles